Kennedy-Western University

Can anyone give me some information about Kennedy Western University. They are licensed out of Cheyenne Wyoming, campus in California? Are they accredited? basically is their degree worth anything?

 

Well, I'd trade it for an espresso at Starbuck's...but only a single espresso.

What sort of program are you looking for? Maybe we can suggest something a little more useful.


Peace,

------------------
Tom Head
www.tomhead.net

 

silky --

Sorry for not quoting your post, but it didn't come through right in my reply, for some reason.

Kennedy-Western does not hold any sort of recognized accreditation; subsequently, the bachelor's degree it offers will probably not be worth very much. You would be much better off doing a regionally accredited bachelor's degree.

The good news: There are heaps of regionally accredited options that require no on-campus residency. Here are the cheapest/most flexible three I've found so far: Charter Oak State College, Excelsior College, and Thomas Edison State College.

Good luck!


Peace,

------------------
Tom Head
www.tomhead.net

 

K-WU has been much discussed in this forum. A search should locate the comments, along with a link to the quite negative article on them in the Chronicle of Higher Education a couple of months ago.

 

K-W and Bear's Guide to Distance Learning

Dr. Bear,
I just got your book on distance learning and you don't list K-W as a diploma mill. If their not a good school for a PHd (I'm trying to further my degrees in Management), who is?

 

No, Mr. Green, I do not list them as a degree mill. They operate legally from Wyoming, even tho run from Calif.

My book comes equipped with a subject index. Any of the schools listed there meet generally accepted accreditation standards; in my opinion -- except MIGS, which appeared to when we put them in, but new info suggests they do not.


John Bear
Roqueredonde, France

 

Actually, taking correspondence or online courses is going back to school -- just not back to the classroom. You can complete courses at a distance, whether online or correspondence, and you can also get credit through assessment of prior learning.

You might want to check out Excelsior College; it offers a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a variety of ways to assess credit -- see http://www.excelsior.edu/ec_howit.htm

 

Re: K-W and Bear's Guide to Distance Learning

It is a great book that I highly recommend. You need to read the parts of the book that discuss accreditation/GAAP especially before you decide to go with a school in one of the unaccredited school chapters. Many (most?) schools in those chapters are frequently called degree mills even though they aren't in the degree mill chapter of the book.

 

If K-W isn't a good school, what is?

I'm not sure that K-W wouldn't get me what I want. Basically, it'd be what I make of it which means I'd push myself as hard as I did at BU.
I'm looking to do consulting anyway and work for myself so my degrees source would be of less importance than what I learned in addition to my graduate studies.
K-W offers a degree that would cost between 5.5K and 6.5K
and would take between a year and a year and a half to complete. Is there a good school that offers this time frame and cost?

 

Re: If K-W isn't a good school, what is?

Another problem with unaccredited degrees in general is that the schools are likely to go out of business. When they do go out of business then their degrees can no longer be validated/verified.

Personally I would not be positively impressed by a consultant touting a K-W degree.

 

So who does have a good Distance learning PHd?

So who's a good school for what I want to do.

 

Re: Re: If K-W isn't a good school, what is?

I agree with Bill. I would be impressed by someone with a degree from Boston University (if that is what BU means).

A point for degree holders to bear in mind is that resumes are often the first thing a recruiter sees and it has to make a good impression or it gets filed in the circular file. A RA degree from a "lower status" school is enhanced if the degree holder has additional (but non-degree) professional qualifications such as CA, PE, FRAeS, or memberships in a professional societies (in my case AF-AIAA).

 

Re: So who does have a good Distance learning PHd?

You might want to look for consultants who are doing the sort of work you'd like to do, and look at their qualifications. Some seem to be doing well with master's level degrees.

Or look at the advice given on how to find good consultants and see how you can meet it. Example:

Six Simple Steps to Finding a GREAT Business Consultant!
http://www.spconsultants.org/articles/sixsteps.htm
No mention of degrees at all; much about finding out what the consultant has done for other clients.

How to Choose a Consultant: A Resource for Your Community or Organization
http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/rural/facts/98-053.htm

You've got a master's degree, right? Probably establishing a track record is more important than an additional degree at this point.

 

Value

The validity in a degree is it's general acceptance by employers. Look who may employers respect the K-W Degree:

http://vsu.kw.edu/ubb/Forum5/HTML/001091.html

Kennedy is a legally operating, state liscenced post secondary eduactional insitution, and is regulated by the WY DoE and meets the stanards pusuant to the act WS 21-2-401.

The federal government has conferred eaqually upon states, or approved accrediting agencies, the authority to grant degrees. The value of a degree is left up to the interpretation of the employer.

Thanks,

RJT

 

Re: Value

You're welcome.

 

Re: Value

Amendment X to the USA Constitution reads.

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. "

What this means, Roberta, is that you've lied once again. You've been told this many times. The federal government didn't confer degree granting authority to the states. Since the constitution doesn't specifically address the power to grant educational degrees, it is a state power. It is a state power and always has been a state power. Also the accrediting agencies have nothing to do with degree granting authority.

Thanks for showing once again what we can expect from a K-W graduate.

 

I know these are posts a decade old, but I attended KWU back in 1981 when it was in Colorado & it was really the 1st of it's kind. It also had the 1st of it's kind distance law school, which I would eventually attend. I can't speak for what has happened since I've graduated. My jaw dropped when I read all these posts. While I have transcripts, they're not acceptable to any school because other institutions want them directly from the institution, or in the alternative, sealed. I have been in the never ending search for who has taken over the registrar duties for KWU. I know that schools that have closed in Wisc, their transcripts are maintained at the University of Wisc-Madison. I first checked with the University of Colorado, but they told me that KWU was taken over by other institutions in other states several times. Was Wyoming it's final resting place? Does anybody know?

 

Kennedy-Western moved through a number of different states and eventually settled in Wyoming. They changed their name to "Warren National University", applied for regional accreditation, were rejected, and closed in 2009. At that time, it was announced that student records would be transferred to Preston University, another unaccredited school. Preston has since moved from Wyoming to Alabama to California, although it may actually be operated from Pakistan. (Incidentally, I feel like I've seen Preston's home page clip art somewhere before).

There is an unofficial board that discusses KWU/WNU transcript issues here. It sounds like there are widespread problems.

 

I wander if you print your own transcripts and mail them to whom ever you need to if it will have the same effect if they were mailed by non existing now closed KWU.

Some say it has 0 value academically.